Spice Up Your Mix With These Two EDM Leads in FM8

In this tutorial learn how to make two different EDM leads in FM8 that will work with multiple genres like Dance, Electro, EDM and more.

Have you ever had a great lead line written or keyed in on your MIDI editor but just couldn’t bring it to life with that perfect sound?

Sometimes all it takes is thinking a little outside of the box. Making EDM leads in FM8 is a great starting point because FM8 has a very unique sonic character.

FM8 has really become known for it’s basses, wobbles and generally anything that has to do with dubstep. It’s always interesting to see how certain synths get viewed as only being able to do certain types of sounds, but in reality, most synths are more versatile than we all give them credit for.

You can make some really unique and interesting EDM leads in FM8 and in this tutorial Johnny shows you how to make two!

Even if you don’t find the sounds in this tutorial useful for any of your current projects, you can take away a lot of useful information and apply it to your own sound design endeavours.

First, to get a big lead sound it’s always helpful to NOT tune all of the operators to the same ratio setting(s). This will create a thin and potentially small sound and if you are trying to create big EDM leads in FM8, it’s counterproductive.

Johnny used this technique in the first sound he made to help fill it out.

Second, remember that using the Peak EQ and Shelving EQ can make or break a sound in FM8. FM8 can have a tendency to sound thin and dry, but using those two EQ’s can really help add life to your sounds. Lastly, remember that FM8 has a really handy detune function in the Easy Morphtab.

If you are trying to get a thick super saw type sound, using this instead of trying to detune in the ratios is often quicker and easier.